


Sunriders and Skywalkers

by Merfilly



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-06
Updated: 2017-08-06
Packaged: 2018-12-11 20:15:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11721750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: Maz Kanata's crew defeats a pirate vessel to gain a treasure off a ship that is carrying a very special girl. Of course Maz adopts her.





	Sunriders and Skywalkers

**Author's Note:**

  * For [scythe_lyfe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/scythe_lyfe/gifts).



> [Nomi Sunrider](http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Nomi_Sunrider) is more ancient than even Maz, but the legends were louder when Maz was a girl. This plays with my headcanon that Shmi is her descendant. 
> 
> People who died in canon aren't where they were in canon, and thus are spared.

The pirates that had originally attacked the ship of colonists was quickly outgunned as a larger, stronger, more unified crew came on scene. After a fierce battle, in which the freighter could not escape as the first set had destroyed her engines, the larger ship locked on and boarded.

The feared leader of the new pirate crew swept on board, followed by beings of all species, with the leader peering at everything from behind thick goggles. She moved around, watching the crew that her people had rounded up, the passengers. One, a girl of maybe six, stared solemnly at her, while a woman corralled other children near her. This took the pirate leader's attention, even as her lieutenants began calling out that the ship was all clear.

"You are a brave one with a strong destiny in front of you, child of the sunriders," the pirate leader said, noting that the child never flinched, not like the mother.

"We are Skywalkers," the child corrected, politely, but the pirate leader could see the burning knowledge in the young eyes, eyes that reminded the pirate of other strong women long dead.

"Far from the conflict that grows, you are, yet… where the Force guides, there will be change," the pirate leader said cryptically, before turning when a young Weequay came in, excitedly telling her the treasure had been found.

"Good, Ohnaka. See that it is loaded." She then looked over all of the crew and passengers. "The journey you took was one doomed from the beginning. We will take the items we came for, but we leave you with two options. One is to come aboard my ship and find your ways from my next port.

"The other is to use the remnant of your original attackers' vessel to repair this one and continue on, but I warn you. Others are hunting the cargo your quartermaster was smuggling under his manifests," and that made the captain glare and lunge for the man, prompting a need for the pirates to separate them. "You may space him, leave him, whatever. I have need of brave beings. I will be stopping at a free port. 

"Choose."

She moved back to study the girl, her mother and siblings. "Skywalkers, is it? I am Kanata. Maz, to those I call my friends and family. I offer you refuge."

"Why? How do you know the old name?" the mother asked.

Maz smiled. "Child, I am old with knowledge and young with a spirit to share it in my own way. Come, and I will teach what I know to the one marked most by the Mother of the Jedi."

That made the woman glance to the self-possessed child, before nodding, cradling her youngest on her hip and keeping the others as close as she could. That let Maz move to face the child directly.

"And what name is yours, beyond that of Skywalker?"

"Shmi."

"I see us being friends for many, many years to come, Shmi."

+++

The rest of Shmi's family settled to life around the great castle the Pirate Queen lived in, but Shmi was drawn more and more to be in the castle, following Maz, meeting people of all walks of life. She was curious, but Maz never explained how and why she had known the old name, not really.

Maz did teach her how to use that nebulous awareness of people, the reason Shmi had not feared her on the ship that day. The child grew slim and strong, respected at first for being Maz's 'pet', but later, on her own merit for being a good person who listened and gave solid advice.

The being that attempted to breach her privacy unprovoked, though, often wound up facing a Weequay or a Wookiee, sometimes fatally, for Shmi had enraptured half of Maz's regular crew.

When conflicts began breaking out more regularly in the Republic sphere of influence, Maz moved her operations as far as she could from them, always saying something was afoot before her eyes would land on the young woman she had helped shape. Shmi would regard her evenly, then go on about her tasks of the day.

It was Maz, ever-observant, that noted her human daughter (for Shmi had grown into something like that) was changing, growing more luminescent with life, and she wondered.

She wondered, but accepted that Shmi was certain there was no father, as Maz knew her little sunrider had never been warm for the company of men in that fashion.

+++

Jedi, Dathomir witches, Altisians… many Force users had wandered through Maz's castle in the years since Shmi had come to live there. She was not afraid of any of them, having been taught that the Light and Dark existed in symbiosis, and one could be as good, or bad, as the other in how it was applied. That most Dark users were obsessed over power did make her wary of many of them, but she often found the hypocrisy of the Light users to be anathema as well.

This time, Shmi Skywalker looked up into the mask and goggles of a man known to her from previous visits, and at the human with him, with some trepidation. She did not glance toward the bassinet that her beloved Anakin was sleeping in, and kept her thoughts calm. 

"Masters Koon and Giiett," she greeted. "Maz will no doubt be down soon; she's tending to some troubled guests from the Andoan systems."

The human nodded at that. "They had refused any assistance from the Order, but we are aware of it." The pair settled in the chairs at the bar itself, showing neither disdain for nor fear of the many denizens eyeing them warily. The regulars turned back to their drinks and food; Jedi were held to the same rules as all who came.

"Lady Skywalker," Master Koon said, the mask enhancing his voice to be heard. Shmi had learned the Kel Dor spoke in something like whispers without their protective masks to enhance them, as their native atmosphere carried sound more clearly than the oxygen rich worlds humans used. "We did not come seeking Maz, though a visit with her is always welcome."

Shmi's eyes snapped to the goggles, reaching to feel the air around them, to judge this moment. "Then why, Master Koon?"

"The Force." He turned his head to where the bassinet was mostly out of sight, before looking again at her. "I am a Finder, Lady Skywalker. I am drawn to the unusual Force children of the galaxy, to insure they are cared for and find the right path, for them, and their family. I have never, however, been drawn to a human."

Shmi made herself keep breathing evenly. "He is my son. I will not be parted from him."

"I told you that would be her answer," Master Giiett said, smiling. 

"I did not argue. I merely said that I had to know for certain, and investigate options." Master Koon considered a long moment, before he flexed his tusks. "The child will need a teacher. The Force is adamant on that, Lady Skywalker, but I understand your reluctance. Perhaps Bespin?"

"My home is here," she answered that.

Master Giiett chuckled. "I do like you, Lady Skywalker, and the way you hold your convictions. We had to find out, but your wishes will be respected. However, if I or my partner here, or perhaps our friends and students, pass through on occasion, as the boy grows, will we be allowed to aid in teaching him?"

"That… that would be preferable," she said in relief, as she realized the Jedi were not going to live up to their reputation as baby-stealers. She had not wanted to think it of this pair; Maz truly liked them both after all. "Perhaps your Noorian friend who came with you some years ago?"

Master Giiett stroked his chin, then lit up brightly. "Plo, that would be the perfect challenge to break her away from her moping! There is a lake for her padawan, and she has been meaning to explore what Maz keeps here in the way of legends and lore!"

"So it is. And perhaps it is time I try to find Ky, and ask him to lend a hand, given his … hmm, roguish nature?" Master Koon suggested.

"Between the two, and our own holidays, I think we can see the boy taught to control and use his birthright." 

Shmi would accept that as a compromise; she knew as well as they did that her son shone so brightly in the Force, and it would draw the Dark that was steadily growing in the galaxy. To not lose the boy to the Jedi, yet see him trained was having the best of it all.

+++

New Apsolon had a crisis of political intrigue but Jedi Master Tahl and her padawan Bant were busily occupied on Takodana, having come for her friends' summons before they even left. The Noorian's disability was not commented on, and Shmi allowed her to actually hold the infant that was her heart's own blood.

"Very strong in the Force," she agreed. "Why did you ask for me?" she asked, bluntly, while running fingers carefully over the delicate features of the child.

"I remembered your one visit, and that you had a presence I found soothing while being reassuring as well," Shmi said honestly. "And, you are one of the few women of the Order I have met. I find myself more at ease with non-masculine beings, I admit."

Tahl smiled, relaxing. "I thought Plo or Micah had put you up to it, so as to give me a focus."

"I know he needs teaching, but I do not wish to lose him, or go away from my home. The offer to have some of your Order stop by to teach him is reassuring."

Tahl nodded. "It is … outside normal conventions. But I agree with Plo. The boy is very strong, and he will need to know how to both control it and cloak it. We will work out a rotation, among those that Plo and Micah trust explicitly, to make certain he has the skills he needs as he grows, while trusting in you and Kanata to instill his sense of morality to guide it."

"Thank you, Master Tahl."

"Just Tahl. I prefer we be friends, Shmi, and do not like formality to be in my way on such."

+++

Anakin was almost six years old the first time he had a vision of his Angel. There was no Jedi present with him at the time, and Maz was actually away for a raid against a pirate nest that had been waging an attrition war on her network.

He kind of wished that Plo Koon was there. Plo's habit of knowing where to find children like him was most like this dream, where he knew his Angel was real and living somewhere else. Also, the Kel Dor had been everywhere, and might know the world. Then again, so would his Nana, as he called Maz.

"Ani, focus on your lessons, because I need you to help me with the inventory tonight!" Shmi chided, finding him lost in daydreaming again over his Angel.

"But Mom, she's out there, and she's going to need me!"

"All the more reason to finish your lessons, and be a hard worker, then, for what being in the galaxy respects someone who is not?" Shmi countered. 

She knew though, even as she said it, that he was right… and she would lose him at her side all too soon. The whisper of the Force was too strong for otherwise.

+++

"Trouble, Maz," Ky Narec, one-time Jedi, said as he and his student settled at the table where Anakin was studying for an engineering exam under her scrutiny. If he was going to become her pirate prince, she had said, he must be qualified.

"Well hello to you as well, Ky," Maz said evenly, before smiling warmly, as she always did, at the pale Dathomiri. When Plo had gone to find his friend, Ky had had a student that the Order refused to accept. Rather than be parted from her, Ky had left again, and gone to Takodana as Plo and Micah suggested.

It had not kept them from assisting over the years, and Yinchorr had been a severe test of Asajj Ventress's control over her birthright, when both Micah and Ky had been injured in an ambush. Fortunately for the small group of Jedi sent to Yinchorr, the girl had proven more than capable of handling both healings at once, even if it meant she had to be carried away once she had done so.

Asajj was never certain of the friendliness, or the covert nature of how her master's friends inside the Order were manipulating outside events while two of them sat on the High Council. Ky had said they were hedging their bets, guided by infrequent visions and worries about erratic behavior as well as stagnation.

"Thought I should warn you before I make my way back around to Coruscant and then Bespin," Ky said as he tugged at the collar of his tunic, loosening it now that he was certain they were in a safe space. "The Trade Federation is massing droids and ships in the Neimoidian systems," he told Maz. "I don't know who gave their Viceroy a pair of gonads and a spine to function with, but all signs say there will be a military action somewhere soon."

Maz made a small, contemplative sound, considering that, even as she was aware that Anakin had begun to scowl, despite the fact that he was supposed to be testing.

"Naboo."

All three adults, though Asajj was still young for her species, looked at the boy, before Maz settled her hand on his shoulder. 

"It's time, is it, my little scamp?" Maz asked.

"All of my visions of my Angel show her surrounded by the droids. And you helped me recognize her when she was elected, Nana."

Ky's eyebrows shot up a bit. "Your Angel is the Queen of Naboo?" He tipped his head, considering what he knew of that world, its system. "Energy deposits. And something about how the former king came to an end nagging me."

"Master Plo will know more," Asajj murmured softly. While she did not like the concept of the two Jedi Masters cooperating with their Order's stupidity while using them and Maz and the Altisians to handle other things, she recognized their areas of expertise.

"Or Tahl can piece it together from the archives. Or Micah will have heard through his sources," Ky agreed. "Alright. Thank you, Anakin, for sharing your insight."

Anakin beamed at him, then tried to focus on his testing, yet his mind was running over the fact his Angel was in danger!

+++

"Little scamp, while I admire your skills and bravery, I do not think your heart needs to lead you alone," Maz said, breaking Anakin's furtive check on the hangar where the smaller ships were.

"She's in danger," Anakin said. "I need to be there."

"So you do, as the Force is moving you. Never ever get in the way of a Sunrider and the one they love; the Sunrider will remember they are an inferno to consume the galaxy."

Anakin's brow furrowed. He'd read the legends of the Sunriders, both from Maz's collection of works and the official Jedi history on the known ones to be in the Order. He didn't doubt that his line, the Skywalkers, were from the Sunrider line; it was knowledge passed from mother to child for them, a way of explaining why some of them were so gifted with the Force.

"The loved one usually dies. I can't let that happen."

Maz chuckled, and then the lights on the smallest cruiser came up. "That, my little scamp, is why the crew and I are taking you to Naboo, to see what we may do to protect your Angel."

+++

The Sith were rising, the Jedi were not prepared, but some had planned… and the Chosen One was being raised in a Balance that would let him fulfill his role… without the push and pull of either side controlling him. With his Pirate family, his Angel to help him, and those that could see the shadows clearly, the galaxy would find its way through the Darkness.

**Author's Note:**

> This is from a prompt that was given to me, and I have spent a few months pondering and writing. I can't seem to get behind a full canon rewrite, so I leave the ending open to your imaginations, gentle readers.


End file.
